The White House announced the troop deployment Tuesday following the beheading of a second American journalist, Steven Sotloff. The new personnel will be part of a now 820-person force providing U.S. diplomatic security.

Militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria said on Twitter that they had executed 1,700 Iraqi government soldiers, The New York Timesreports. On Sunday, a string of bombs went off, killing 15 and wounding over 30.